Douglas
Adams has inspired a US fan campaign to rename 42nd Avenue in
Portland, Oregon, as Douglas Adams Boulevard. (The Register)

Arthur
C. Clarke celebrated his 90th birthday on 16 December. He
announced three birthday wishes: for world adoption of cleaner energy
sources, evidence of alien life, and lasting peace in Sri Lanka. One
week later the New York Times magazine ran a full-page ad for
something called the TurboChef Speedcook Oven, with a headline
beginning: 'It's been said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic." ...' This timely quotation was
not credited. [JDB]

Harlan
Ellison's wrath – at net rumours that the new Star Trek
film will use characters he invented for 'City at the Edge of Forever'
– was misplaced. (See Ansible 245.)
He's been reassured, and others have confirmed, that the story is false.
Our correspondent Una Tribble has a theory of its origin: 'My sources
tell me the Guardian of Forever prop seen on the Paramount lot is not in
fact for the new film but the new Star Trek tour that's recently
been press-released over on Startrek.com.'

Simon
R. Green's latest novel had to be changed: 'It was originally
called Just Another Damned Hero, but the publishers said it
couldn't be called that, because none of the book chains in the US would
accept a book title that had the word "damned" in it. Really.
In this day and age. So, the book now has a new title: Just Another
Judgement Day.' Perhaps this is why Tim LaHaye's 'Left
Behind' series wasn't rapturously entitled 'You're All Damned, Ha Ha,
Except For Some Of My Buddies.'

Doris
Lessing was quizzed again about her sf, and mentioned hearing
from Some Of Us since the Nobel win: 'I had a wonderful letter from the
science fiction people, which was absolutely charming of them, because
I've always been just a little bit difficult for them. They said ... so
glad your novels have won: we don't know if you're ahead of us or we're
ahead of you, or words to this effect, and that was very sweet.' (Mark
Lawson interview, BBC Radio 4 Front Row, 10 December) [RC] I
wonder who those mystery well-wishers could have been....

Ian
McKellen had top billing in the UK New Year honours, as a
Companion of Honour. The 97-page list included only five goodies for
services to literature. Children's author Jacqueline Wilson, who has
published at least one supernatural novel, was upgraded from OBE to Dame
CBE; and historical novelist Peter Vansittart, whose early utopian
novels earned him an SF Encyclopedia entry, received the OBE.

Terry
Pratchett sent an email circular: 'I would have liked to keep
this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions
and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me
unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form
of early onset Alzheimer's, which lay behind this year's phantom "stroke".
/ We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a
mild optimism. [...] All other things being equal, I expect to meet most
current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss
things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people
kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few
more books yet :o). / PS: I would just like to draw attention to
everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as "I am
not dead". I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will
everybody else. For me, this [is] maybe further off than you think – it's too soon to tell. I know it's a very human thing to say "Is
there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain
offers from very high end experts in brain chemistry.' [11 December]
Fingers fervently crossed, mate. Later: 'Well, that was a weird
few weeks. Not unpleasant, but kind of odd, like being a guest at one's
own wake. We couldn't ring out on the phones and the mail boxes just
went crazy; Rob thinks there were around 40,000 contacts all told. Lots
of helpful advice and informed suggestions, though; a strategy is
unfolding.' [29 December]

Brandon
Sanderson, the US fantasy novelist, has been chosen by the
late Robert Jordan's wife and editor Harriet Popham Rigney to complete
the final novel in the stupefyingly popular 'Wheel of Time' fantasy
series. Jordan's own title for this is A Memory of Light. [SFWA]

15-18 May  Eurocon/RosCon, Lesnye Dali Hotel, Gorki-10,
Moscow West, Russia. (Date change from the original 3-7 May.) Now
$100 reg (same at the door); 20 supp; all-inclusive membership
250 with 3 nights' accommodation and 3 meals/day – this must be
booked in advance. See booking form at
www.eurocon2008.ru.

28-29 Jun  ConRunner 2008 (conrunning), Britannia Hotel,
Wolverhampton. Now £35 reg. £50 at door. Day rate £25.
Contact 56 Jackmans Place, Letchworth G.C., Herts, SG6 1RH. [Late
update: owing to better membership takeup than expected, the old £30
rate is in fact being held until after Eastercon, and the at-door rate
reduced to £45. Although the programme doesn't start until Sat 28
Jun, there will be a social evening on Fri 27 Jun.]

Conspiracy
Corner. Boris Johnson proposed the most plausible explanation
to date of the 'mystery' surrounding Princess Diana's death: 'I will
reveal how the Duke of Edinburgh secretly trained the Loch Ness Monster
to swim up the Seine until it reached the Pont d'Alma and then I will
explain how Philip then gave a kind of ghillie's whistle and Nessie
reared out of the water and so startled Henri Paul that he swerved into
the path of Elvis Presley in the white Fiat Uno, at which point Prince
Charles – hovering overhead in a Luftwaffe helicopter – switched on
the supermagnet installed by MI6 in the concrete pillar of the tunnel
and sucked the Merc to its doom.' (BBC What the Papers Say, 22
Dec) [JL]

As
We See Ourselves. Glen Erickson on the 30th-anniversary
'Ultimate Edition' DVD release of Close Encounters: 'When Neary
goes on his cross-country quest, he's already been reduced to a total
loser in the grip of an infantile obsession – an insecurity that
science-fiction addicts surely identify with.' (DVDtalk.com, 8 December)
[GD]

R.I.P.Marit Allen (1941-2007), UK-born film costume designer, died on
26 November aged 66. Genre work includes Don't Look Now, Hulk,
the upcoming Justice League of America, and the Little Shop
of Horrors musical. [CH]
 Frank Capra Jr (1934-2007), US film producer/director
and son of the more famous Capra, died on 19 December; he was 73. Genre
work includes his first film Marooned, three Planet of the
Apes sequels, and Firestarter. [SFS]
 J Lawrence 'Larry' Cassingham (1918-2007), US inventor,
journalist and actor, died on 23 December – the day after his 89th
birthday. In the 1940s, Cassingham developed the first practical
portable Geiger counter. His scientific background and California
location led him to being technical advisor on many 1950s-60s 'atomic'
movies and tv shows, including Zombies of the Stratosphere
(1952), The Magnetic Monster (1953) and The Atomic Kid
(1954). He recalled arguing with directors: 'They often wanted more
drama, and I wanted more technical accuracy. I usually lost!' [SG]
 Roger Eldridge (1944-2007), UK author and
photo-journalist whose sf novels were The Shadow of the Gloom-World
(1977) and The Fishers of Darksea (1982), died on 4 November. He
was 63. [JC]
 George MacDonald Fraser (1925-2008), UK author of the
very popular 'Flashman' historical or alternate-historical adventures
(1969-2005), died on 2 January. He was 82. Fraser wrote the screenplay
for Octopussy (1983) and received an OBE in 1999.
 Bill Idelson (1930-2007), US screenwriter/actor who
began by scripting The Flintstones in the 1960s, died on 31
December aged 87. He also wrote for The Twilight Zone, Bewitched
and The Ghost and Mrs Muir. [SFS]
 Tony Tenser (1920-2007), UK film producer who founded
Tigon Films in 1966, died on 5 December aged 87. His releases included
Witchfinder General (1968), Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)
and the 1972 Doomwatch film. [SG]
 Marion Van Der Voort, who with her husband Richard ran
the well-known UK sf bookshop At The Sign of the Dragon for 35 years,
died at home on 26 December. She was hospitalized with double pneumonia
from early October to Christmas Eve, and had seemed to be recovering.
All sympathy to Richard.

As
Others See Us. 'Connie Willis is known as a science-fiction
writer, but Laura Miller of Salon.com doesn't want to give people the
idea that these stories are going to be about spaceships or robots or
aliens. They're an unusual mixture of subject matters that might be
dealt with in literary short stories [...] Connie Willis is not very
well known because she's not a conventional science-fiction writer, and
she's not really known in literary circles.' (NPR.org, 21 December) [MW]

Fanfundery.TAFF: Chris Garcia's TAFF
win, reported last issue, was 'on the first ballot with 62.7% of the
total combined NA/Europe votes. No other candidate received 20% of this
combined vote.' [ST] Detailed figures delayed by administrators' attacks
of Real Life....
 DUFF: 2008 southbound race announced in late December
with a 31 January voting deadline. Candidates are Steve &
Sue Francis (jointly) and Murray Moore. Ballot form at
www.fanac.org/DUFF2008.pdf.

Outraged
Letters.Brian Aldiss is all breathless: 'I can't help
it but I am having my portrait painted in oils. In fact, this is quite
an exciting week. On Tuesday I have my feet examined, Wednesday my head
– no, sorry – Wednesday a lecture on "Science and Civilization"
at the ScienceOxford venue (to be filmed). On Thursday, a lady with the
exciting name of Sue Fox comes to interview me for "The Worst of
Times, The Best of Times". On the seventh day I rested. Then chaps
come to lunch with me and discuss the possibility of a movie of Non-Stop.
(Pretty quick off the mark, since it appeared only half a century ago.)'
[2 December]
 Mike Glicksohn passes on a Sidney Coleman story: 'Sid
was late for a panel at a physics conference but as he walked in one of
the panelists said, "I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that
question." Sid replied: "I do. What was the question?"
You had to love the man.'
 Diana Wynne Jones wonders if it ever happened: 'Er ...
is there a particular reason why you left me out of the [A245]
World Fantasy awards list? I ask because I could have dreamt that I and
another woman whose name I don't know shared lifetime achievement
thingies. I think I dreamt that I sent a speech of acceptance to my
proxy in America, which arrived as total gibberish, and that they in
return promised me a Thing by post, which was put in a rowing boat that
got swamped halfway across the Atlantic so that they lost the Thing
overboard. No, no, it was all a mad dream. Forget that I asked you.' My
paltry excuse is that the WFA life awards to Diana and to Betty
Ballantine were announced, or leaked, months before the other results
and reported in Ansible 242 (September
2007).
 Martin Morse Wooster knows Terry Pratchett's social
calendar better than the man himself: 'Terry Pratchett did NOT attend "the
Washington Literary Festival." He was at the National Book
Festival.'

Hugo
Stuff.Hugo
nominations opened on 1 January with a 31 March deadline. Possible
future rule changes:
Jay Lake's
proposal of a Lifetime Achievement Hugo has had a somewhat mixed
reception so far, while a straw poll at
Sfawardswatch.com showed a
strong majority in favour of reforming the Semiprozine category; 52%
wanted it scrapped. Wait and see....

As
Near Relations See Us. Petrea Mitchell writes: 'My favorite
radio show, Whad'Ya Know?, is right now rerunning a show I
previously missed. This turns out to have been from during the 2005
World Fantasy Convention. Parts of the show involve the host chatting
with random members of the audience. He was talking to someone who was
in Madison primarily for the WFC.... Host, in what I stress was a
friendly manner: Do you dress up funny there? Audience member,
horrified: No, no, that's science fiction, not
fantasy and horror. Host: Do you go to those conventions too?
Audience member: As little as possible.'

Random
Fandom.Garth Spencer announces that his fanzine The
Royal Swiss Navy Gazette will henceforth appear only online.

The
Rewards of Virtue. Simon R. Green enjoyed an end-of-year gloat
over his Romantic Times Career Achievement Award nomination, in
the urban fantasy category. 'For the Nightside series. And all this
without a single sex scene. Mother would be so proud.'

Publishers
and Sinners. Musical chairs at Little, Brown UK: George
Walkley moves from being Orbit Business Manager to Marketing Director
and also Director of Digital Strategy for L,B. Samantha Smith is now
Orbit Marketing Executive, dealing with publicity etc.

Amazon.com
paid £1,950,000 at auction for one of seven handwritten copies of
J.K. Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard – proceeds to charity.
Being unable actually to publish these five fairy tales, Amazon
described their plots in a longish review at
www.amazon.com/beedlebard/.
[PM] A handwritten advance copy of Ansible 246 was withdrawn
from the Sotheby's auction when bidding, though initially spirited,
failed to reach the reserve of 50p.

Thog's
Masterclass.Visual Effects Dept. 'The night sky was
like a piece of soggy velvet, wrung out by giant invisible hands.'
(Shaun Hutson, The Terminator novelization, 1984) [AR] 'In the
blackness, his left eye glowed like a pool of boiling blood.' (Ibid)
 Dept of Status Symbols. 'From an expedition case she
pulled a small metallic cube, slightly smaller than the fuzzy dice
classy people hang from rear view mirrors.' (Walt Becker, Link,
1998) [AK]
 Pathetic Fallacy Dept, or The Rapture of the Sentient C-4.
'The jumpy molecules of explosives felt the shock waves hit the large
room. Barely able to contain themselves, they waited two hundredths of a
second longer before they too saw God.' (Ibid)
 Psychosomatic Dept. 'Sometimes, when he slept, he would
awaken screaming and with the feeling of evil scraping at his mind like
a cold lump of conviction resting heavily in his stomach.' (Lee Harding,
'Dragonfly' in New Worlds 117, April 1962) [JB]